Herb Montes

I use Toon Boom and it's a very good vector program. If you want to know more about the various animation software out there check out the Animation Forum at: http://www.animationforum.net/forum/

Removing the autothread mechanism and threading the film manually should eliminate that. As for the camera slowing down it's common with most clockwork cameras. They do slow down when reaching the end of a wind. A few cameras maintain their speed throughout the whole wind like the later Bolexes and the Kodak K100. The K100 has the longest wind of any clockwork 16mm out there.

If you're talking about the autoload mechanism that has never worked right with the K3. Most owners remove it and thread the loops manually. Also it seems the rollers along the bottom side of the sprocket may not be holding the film up against it and the film jumps the sprocket holes. Is this the first time you loaded this camera? Have you put film through it before?

The shiny dark brown side is the base, that side is away from the lens. The light yellow rough side is the emulsion, that faces the lens. The picture shows it backwards. Also the film should come off the back side of the roll, the side furthest away from the gate.

Thank you for the offer but I think I can handle metalworking. I used to work as a machinist for a medical electronics manufacturer. I know my way around a Bridgeport. ;)

You're welcome. My interest in matte paintings is in creating backdrops for my stop motion films. I got the stage setup but need a way to support the backgrounds so they stay in the same place for long periods of time. I found some wooden frames tend to swell and shrink with the humidity. So I may have to build a metal frame to hold the paintings.

Check out the Matte Painting board at the Stopmotionanimation.com forum. http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/dc/dcboard.php

Yours does look like the later electric version. I have seen it mostly in double Super 8. A rather rare camera. The only other Pathe I have seen is the Professional Reflex BTL. Although that one had a broken pelicle so I passed on buying it.

I have a Pathe Webo Super 16. Does it look like yours? It has a lot of the same features as a reflex Bolex but it can't disengage the spring drive.

It's not that difficult. I have two good references on the camera, The Professsional Cameraman's Handbook (4th edition) and the American Cinematographer Manual (3rd edition). Both have lots of information on the Mitchell. Haven't found much online.

Been posting this at other forums and I thought I would post it here to see if there are other owners of the 16mm Mitchell. I recently acquired this 16mm Mitchell that had been modified to be used for time lapse photography. As you can see from the images the turret was removed and c-mount adapter installed to take a single c-mount lens. Also a Tobin TTL timelapse/animation motor was installed on the standard Mitchell motor mount. This means standard motors for the 16mm Mitchell can also be used. Other features of the Mitchell such as rack-over, variable shutter, critical focus/framing viewfinder and double claw film registration/movement are still present. I will be mostly using this camera to film stop motion animation. Link below is to a webpage with pictures of the camera: 16mm Mitchell Camera

They were a high quality camera but not many were made. At the time Kodak was competing against other brands like Arriflex and Bolex who were better established. I believe Kodak used their own proprietary lens mount which meant not a lot of choices for lenses.

Depends on what you're asking for it. Last year I was looking for one at the same time I was trying to get a 16mm Mitchell. Now I got a Mitchell being delivered to me so I don't know if I got enough to spare to get the Kodak.

Have the 17-85 Pan Cinor zoom with the dogleg finder and when you unscrew the finder tube from the lens base you will see the frame mask inside the lens tube screw base. This is rotateable and I can usually rotate it with my finger.

I have a Kiev 16UE with the electric motor. There's a spring drive version as well. It takes decent images but not very steady ones. I can see some jitter in a few scenes in the test roll I shot. It has a mirrored shutter and the image path goes though a hinged mirror that swings out of the way when the turret is turned. Needless to say the reflex image is not exact because of this. So I wouldn't use this camera for close-up work like filming animation. It's very noisy, much more so than a Bolex.

The Bolex is a good camera to start with. And still flexible enough after you gained some experience. Yes, I got mine setup to film stop motion animation. The motor is a Meritex and came from Chambless. The camera was already modified when I bought it. Besides this one I also have an M4 and an M5 with a magazine. Both use the zoom lens with dogleg reflex finder.

I got a Rx4 I bought several years ago for $1,000. Great camera, came with Schneider lenses. It was modified to use the 400 foot magazine. The zoom could be 18-76 instead of 18-16. The numbers mean the focal zoom range. I have several of the compact zooms as well as the larger Pan Cinor. Here is a recent picture of my Bolex, the body is obscured by an animation motor but that is the compact zoom on it.

And I always tested a new VCR by running Kodachrome through it first. :lol:

When I first got my CP-16R I tested it by running leader through it with the camera door and magazine open. I watched everything as it ran to make sure the film went through without any problems. Now I'm ready to shoot real film with it.

There's this forum which still looks to be active: http://p205.ezboard.com/fbeaulieur16usersfrm1

I find the CP-16 tech manual very useful. As well as the other manuals on your website. So I appreciate you taking the time to scan and post them online. Having experience as an electronics tech and machinist I'm not afraid to get inside my own movie gear to fix and modify them.

Robert, I'll take you up on your offer. I'm going to be busy this weekend working on new artwork for my deviantART gallery but will try to find time to scan the CP-16R manual (it's over 60 pages). I already have a manual for the B&H 240 I scanned earlier but I had gotten a more pristine copy since then and may scan that one again. Another thing would be the scan format. I have an A3 scanner which can scan an 11"x17" area. I could scan two pages at once (side by side) or keep it to single page scans. Either way I will be uploading a PDF of the manuals.

If you have no experience with all the handson aspects of making a film then you need to find a filmmaker with a camera who has the same kind of passion. Find people with the skills you need to make your film a reality. I'm in Texas but on the Gulf coast. Best of luck with your dream.

Before I purchased my CP-16 I looked around for a free manual online myself. I already had the ones for the Bolex and other cameras but found none for the CP-16. I eventually ended up buying a manual. I also have the edition of the Professional Cameraman's Handbook with the section on the CP-16. I'll go ahead and scan the manual to make it available online so no one else has to pay for one.

I got the operating manual. I can make a photocopy to mail you or scan it to email to you.